Dervish Pasha Mension

The owner of this two storey mansion built in the 19th century
was Dervish Pasha, the publisher of "Zaman" 
the first Turkish newspaper in Cyprus.

The
mansion is in the Arap Ahmet region of Nicosia: this is the
region of the walled city which has preserved the fabric of
the historical environment most intensely. The mansion has
two entrances. On the main entrance, the year 1219 of the
Muslim Calendar (1807) is visible. The ground floor has been
constructed of stone and the upper floor of sundried brick.

The year 1869 is visible on the ornamented ceiling of the
main room which is a later addition to the building. The mansion
has an L shape with a large inner courtyard. The
rooms on the ground floor open to terraced pavilions ringing
the inner courtyard. A wooden staircase supported by the water
reservoir in the courtyard leads to the upper floor where
all the doors open to a covered porch.

After the restoration work between 1978-88, the mansion was
opened as a museum-house or a museum of ethnograpy
on 21 March 1988. It includes a main-room, a bride-room, a
dining-room, and a section where items of daily use are being
exhibited.